“It’s important work,” Paulie’s voice was only slightly muffled by Zeus’s chest. “Not to mention it gave Wes and Cass a chance to explore the world – which Cass had never had the opportunity to do before, and Wes has a purpose now that means something to him.”
Paulie wasn’t wrong. Ra knew that, even if he didn’t know the full details of why Wes didn’t want to return to the Cloverleah pack. He turned his focus to Zeus. “Can you think of any reason why Cass and Wes wanted to meet you in one of the roughest dives I’ve ever had the misfortune to walk into?”
“Dives? Like in the ocean?” Zeus looked puzzled. “We might be gods, but the only ones who can swim under water are Poseidon and his sons.”
“I don’t mean dives like that.” Ra chuckled. “Dives, as in you have to have sunk pretty low in life to go into one. Honestly, the stink in that place was indescribable and how Wes stood it, being the only decently dressed person in there until I came along, I don’t know. They were very disappointed when I turned up instead of you.”
“But you did see them, though?” Paulie asked. “You helped Wes and Cass with their little problem?”
Ra shook his head. “And see, this is where you’ve been naughty. Cass and Wes couldn’t work out why they were even sent to the area, and I agreed it was a mystery. You have a captive coven master on one hand…”
“Captive?” Paulie looked up at Zeus, his eyes wide.
“Captive coven master on one hand,” Ra carried on as though Paulie hadn’t interrupted him. “An alpha wolf being tailed by other wolves on the other. All in the same little town, but no apparent interaction between the two events. As Cass put it, they don’t have anything to do with territory disputes and it’s not like a coven master and an alpha wolf can’t sort out their issues on their own – they’re hardly helpless.”
Ra leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees, his coffee cup still in one hand. “I agreed with them - it was a real conundrum.” He watched Paulie closely. “Surely, there’d be so many other shifters, who were weaker and less capable, who would benefit from Cass and Wes’s assistance more. But Wes said that you, Paulie, was most insistent they stay on the case and get the alpha wolf and the coven master together. They just didn’t know why. What did you see when you were peeking over Zeus’s shoulder as he studied his computer screens?”
“I don’t peek,” Paulie mumbled. “I was sitting on my mate’s lap. Egan was sleeping…”
“He does a lot of that.” Ra gave the youngster a quick glance. The innocent faced angel had barely moved, but he had a tiny smile, almost as though he was listening.
“Not at night, he doesn’t,” Zeus grumbled. “And Paulie likes to sit on my lap when things are quiet. It’s not as though I have anything to hide when I keep an eye on mortal affairs.”
“No, only from the Fates. What did you see, Paulie?” Ra ran his finger around the top of his cup, reheating the coffee, before taking a sip. “What connections made you send your dynamic duo in to lend a hand to the situation?”
“They’re Fated,” Paulie whispered, looking up at his mate, who took over the conversation.
“I caught sight of the alpha in my screens before he got into town. Didn’t think anything of it,” Zeus said crisply. “Then, the day Paulie was with me, my ‘sight’ kept catching the alpha, and at other times the vamp. It was Paulie who told me they were fated, but it looked like neither of them knew about it. Paulie wanted me to give them a nudge, but I told him that was the Fates job.”
“But then Arvyn got hit by that car and I was sure the vamp did it on purpose.” Paulie swiped under his eye with his finger. “Then the car came back, and the alpha was gone, but the coven master, Kirill, his face when he touched that drop of blood left by Arvyn on the pavement – the wonder and joy… Oh…”
“Joy swiftly smashed by Kirill’s second.” Zeus shook his head. “That guy is a piece of work. I got Hades to check on Yakov, the second in charge of the coven, after I witnessed what happened on the pavement. It was Yakov who was driving the car that day. That vamp has a black soul, although he does his best to hide it. It seems he hates shifters, something I thought Cass could help with, because Cass would see the hatred and darkness in Yakov’s soul.”
“Yes, well, I imagine Kirill knows about it now, because it was Yakov who shot the coven master full of tranquilizers and chained him to a basement wall until he could get rid of Arvyn.” Ra was still fuming over the state of the vampire when he found him although he did his best not to show it.
“So, you have seen them then?” Paulie asked eagerly. “You’ve seen Arvyn and Kirill?”
Ra shrugged. “There might have been a bit of finger twitching around that helped Kirill get out of his cell without anyone in the coven seeing him, and that same finger might have sent Kirill to where Cass, Wes, and Arvyn were busy handling three mercenaries that’d been sent to kill off Arvyn. Not that I would know who was responsible for that bit of magic, because I don’t interfere in the affairs of mortals.”
“But if you’ve seen them, why are you here?” Paulie threw up his hands, turning to his mate. “I didn’t get it wrong. I know what I saw.”
“It would help if you told me what you saw.” Ra had already guessed. He knew what he’d seen, both when he’d seen Arvyn for the first time and Kirill. But for some reason, call him perverse, but he needed to hear confirmation from the mouth of the young demigod. “Why did you send me to meet up with Wes and Cass?”
“Connections.” Paulie sounded upset now, and that hadn’t been Ra’s intention. “Like fine silk threads in brilliant gold.”
“Between Arvyn and Kirill.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, and a third.” Eyes still bright with tears, Paulie faced Ra, his chin jutting out. “Floating above their threads was a headdress depicting the sun, just like the one I see above you every time I see you. The threads connected all three. I’m so sorry, so very sorry. I felt sure you were their third and I just wanted you to be as happy as we are. But if it’s not you…” He turned to Zeus. “Could it be Helios? Can I meet him? Maybe if I could see if he has a similar headdress…”
“Their third is not Helios,” Ra said sharply, feeling guilty now he’d upset Paulie so badly. He’s very young, he reminded himself. I shouldn’t have let my teasing go this far. “I know I’m their third – I saw them bathed in the light described by so many others of our kind.”
“Then why aren’t you with them?” Turning his face into Zeus’s chest, Paulie wailed, “Orin was right. Gods always get things wrong with their mating. I felt sure this one would work, but Ra’s here, and they aren’t…”
“You forget, my sweet young mate might be a demigod, but he’s lived most of his life as a shifter,” Zeus said to Ra as he stroked Paulie’s hair. “Shifters know their mate by scent, and then it’s pretty much ‘jump their bones and bite their necks’ and the mating’s done. Vampires take a bit longer – they see a person, have an overwhelming urge to be with them, and then, when they’ve fed from that person, they know for sure the person is their beloved. I take it you didn’t let your two get that close to you?”